


Error #626

by Elvis_Stitch



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Alien Technology, Backstory, Bonding, Developing Relationship, Disney, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Issues, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Genetic Engineering, Grief/Trauma, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Isolation, LiloxStitch later chapters, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Minor Violence, POV Stitch, Past Abuse, Self-Acceptance, Some Humor, Themes of Anxiety/Depression, minor blood/gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27347752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvis_Stitch/pseuds/Elvis_Stitch
Summary: Living under the belief that his glitch has been eliminated, Stitch is living the good life despite his worst fear of becoming Experiment 626 again haunting him on a daily basis. To ensure the safety of his son, Jumba takes a cautionary measure, believing his plan to be foolproof and ultimately a move which brings the father/son duo closer together. But when a series of unexplainable events soon shakes up their normal daily lives and forces the family apart, not only must Stitch protect his deepest darkest secret from being exposed to those he loves—he must face up against the biggest battle of his life: saving himself FROM himself.
Relationships: David Kawena/Nani Pelekai, Lilo Pelekai & Stitch | Experiment 626
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	1. A Month Later

**Author's Note:**

> This story is an alternate AU take on the aftermath of Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch. Set just after the events of Stitch's death the plot takes place between the ending of the second movie, but before Stitch! The Movie and Lilo and Stitch: The Series. While there are some references to experiments, they are either based on the PlayStation 2 game, the Stitch! anime, the comics or pure inspiration. Inspiration is also drawn from Stitch and Ai, Chris Sander's original pitch and the deleted scenes.
> 
> In my story, Stitch's past is mainly set based on the (somewhat) canon events of the PlayStation 2 game Stitch: Experiment 626. Before meeting Lilo, Jumba sent Stitch out on various missions to collect DNA samples from different worlds. But he was also a hooligan, causing destruction and mass-mayhem, just as Jumba had intended him to. The game was a good insight into Jumba and Stitch's lives before they were arrested (despite the events of how Stitch was arrested in Stitch has a Glitch were quite different) so I have formed the plot of my story around it with my own big twist. If you have not yet played the game or are unfamiliar with it (it's quite old now) I suggest watching it on YouTube so you can see what it's like, otherwise you can find out more about the characters from the prototype of the game featured under The Cutting Room Floor.
> 
>  **Final note:** This story is also told from Stitch's perspective. I have read some stories on here where people believe Stitch is very intelligent and analytical, however he has the mindset of a toddler and expresses himself that way. I do not think this is the case considering we hear him speak full English sentences a few times, despite his broken English mixed with Tantalog. Etc—"Yes please. Stitch has found one place he truly belongs, on earth. With Lilo." (Leroy and Stitch). So while his mind and thoughts are 'normal'—as in, he thinks like us and is smart—his speech is not and is based around how he speaks in the movies and series.
> 
>  **Another final note:** Error #626 is Jumba/Stitch centric and focuses on their father/son relationship. I believe their bond is important and rarely explored so I took it upon myself to do so. There will be a total of two ships in this story in later chapters, just to warn you.
> 
> This is one story I've enjoyed writing and I hope you enjoy it too!

****

**Error #626  
By Elvis_Stitch**

"Stitch! Get up!"

Gantu's voice didn't quite sound like that.

"...Gaba?" Stupid-head stared at me, before diving into what I could only register as a vast sea of... ravioli...? The thing stretched for miles ahead and I had to jump to avoid pasta flavoured waves from splashing against my feet. Running forward to look out after Captain Fish Flank, I was suddenly caught off guard by Lilo's face towering above me—only it was HUGE. From my shock alone I nearly fell into the ravioli sea myself. Yuck. 

I enjoyed pasta, but _not_ like this! I didn't have much time to ponder on that thought though—the pasta sea suddenly rising up high over my head and I screamed, turning to run. It was catching up to me. 

"NAGA!" I screamed. I was going to die because of a pasta sea. I put my paws over my eyes as the wave came crashing down on to—

"Come _on_ Stitch...!" Somebody was shaking my body back and forth. "Wake up...!" 

"Tubi eeba!" 

Lilo's distorted voice entered my dream and it took me a moment to register that I was back in reality. Rubbing my eyes, I realised there was no Gantu or sea of pasta. I groaned, pulling my pillow across and pressing it against my head. I wasn't standing there about to be drowned by pasta. Instead, it had just been another weird dream. I'd been having a bunch of those lately. 

It was better than having another nightmare though. Thankfully those had stopped. Lilo started pulling my feet.

"Agabba!" I told her. "Stitch up." 

Rubbing my eyes, I yawned as she helped to sit up. She smiled, reaching out to stroke my ear. "So did you have any...?"

"Naga. Just weird dream."

She looked relieved. Every morning for the past two weeks, Lilo had been beside my bed when I woke up. She was paranoid about my nightmares returning ever since I'd died a month ago. Considering the extent of nightmares I'd had when my circuits were starting to go into meltdown, I honestly couldn't blame her. I had to reassure her that pain was gone. The nightmares wouldn't come back. I hoped, at least. I couldn't be sure on that myself.

My ears perked when I heard Nani's voice calling us downstairs. Lilo reached for my hand and pulled me out of the bed. She continued to hold onto it as we headed downstairs.

Things had changed significantly over the past month and I had noticed how much closer my family had become to me. Lilo for instance, couldn't be away from my side for more than a minute. Everywhere I went, she was there. It was comforting, but kind of annoying when I needed my privacy. Even with Jumba's reassurance and data evidence that I was one hundred percent charged, she was still scared.

Nani had taken some time off her new job at the rental shack. It wasn't a wise move, considering it was a new job, but she insisted on it. Like Lilo, she'd become exceptionally paranoid about things. I used to have free reign over the kitchen to eat pretty much anything my appetite craved, but Nani had gone into hyper Nani lockdown mode. It took me more than a few days to realise that she was scared of something triggering a meltdown again to the point even a basic meal warranted fear. Jumba's reassuring wasn't enough for her either; only David was the one that was able to bring her round to a bit more of a basic sense. He'd ended up moving in with us for the time being, mostly to help look after the sisters. Both of them had been badly affected.

Pleakley was his usual, strange self. His way of what I guess was coping with the events was shutting himself in Nani's room and trying on her clothes. I thought Nani would be furious about this, but she was too busy spending her time worrying about me to notice. Jumba on the other hand... was the worst of all of them. I never thought I'd hear my creator cry, but the night I died he did. He had locked himself away in his and Pleakley's bedroom. The rest of the family, including myself, was downstairs trying to just come to terms with everything. A movie was on—Lilo's favourite—although none of them were truly paying attention. I could tell that their attention was focused on me. They were trying to celebrate a miracle, but deep inside they were all hurting badly.

Nani's snacks were there. This time, the table had been pushed to the side as opposed to directly in front of the TV. I guess Nani had wanted it out of sight because it reminded her all too much of my first real glitch. I wasn't very hungry, and neither were they. Lilo had me sitting in her lap, arms wrapped tightly around me to the point I had to tell her I was having trouble breathing a few times. She said sorry, but it was gentle and even with my hearing, I nearly missed it. She was so broken.

Nani and David repeatedly kept their eye on me although Nani was very solemn. David had his arm around her and she was resting her head against his shoulder. Pleakley was reading another fashion magazine, but I could feel his single eye burning into the back of my head every so often. Jumba however, didn't join us. He hadn't wanted to and when I realised he was up there in his bedroom crying, I understood why. I knew I was the only one that could hear him. I had stood up, out of Lilo's arms and it had caused her to look up at me. 

"Stitch?" she asked, sounding worried. "Where are you...?" 

I held her fragile hand in my paw and I could see the distant scratch marks on her cheek from earlier that day. My claws... I looked away. The rest of them looked at me. 

"Stitch need to..." I paused, thinking about my wording. "Need to see Jumba." Lilo stood up at that, ready to follow me but I gently pushed her down instead. 

"No Lilo. Only Stitch." 

In response, I was met with a sad gaze. Nani went to sit up but I raised my paw once more and spoke. I wasn't fully sure if the sisters understood me, but they seemed to catch my drift. 

"Pleechi-ba. Iki boh-boh." 

Lilo crawled over to Nani and she pulled her up into her lap. All of them watched me as I turned and left. I headed up the stairs to Jumba's bedroom and I sat there in contemplation for a few minutes before trying the door. It was locked. I had heard Jumba pause at that, but there was no movement on the inside. I just reached up and knocked while I had his attention. 

It took him some time—at least ten minutes—but eventually he unlocked the door and cracked it open slightly to peer out. When he saw me, his efforts of concealing what he'd been doing were destroyed almost instantly; I could see him crying again.

"Oh. Stitch." 

I squeezed through the door, shutting it behind us. He stared down at me, before turning and lying back down on his bed as I stared up at him. I was going to call out his name, but instead I just went over and climbed up beside him, snuggling into his larger frame. He buckled at that. He just broke. I felt his hand on top of my head and he scratched my ears before pulling me into his arms.

"Meega okeytaka. Chamba rum basta ki," I told him. He gave a sob at that and held me tighter so I just let him. I wasn't going to move because I knew that Jumba was the most broken out of all of them. He had felt as though he'd failed not only me, but the whole family. When he calmed down enough, I told him he was never a failure.

"Mockeecha," he responded quietly, in our language.

I said nothing to that. I just remained with him as long as he needed as my presence alone helped him. Eventually he fell asleep, a slightly more eased expression on his features. I crawled out of his arms and headed back downstairs to the rest of my family. 

The movie was over and they had all fallen asleep. Lilo was curled up across David and Nani's legs. Pleakley had flopped back over the armrest and had his magazine over his face. It looked very uncomfortable. I sat down on the floor and stared at them. I wasn't really tired. I just turned off the television and sat in thought.

I respected my family. But above all, I knew that Jumba was hurting the most. He was my creator and my father. He'd called my his son again while I was up there, something I hadn't heard for a while—just as he'd drifted off to sleep. It was nice hearing that from him as he rarely called me son, especially in front of the family, but it had made me happy because I knew his heart was broken. I just hoped me going up there had helped heal it a little.

After that night, my family had become much closer and protective of me. It had taken Jumba the longest of all of them to deal with his emotions. Not unlike Lilo, he had trouble letting me out of his sight too. It took him two weeks before he allowed me to sleep back in my own room with Lilo although I understood this. Lilo and Jumba were the worst affected. Nani only just after them. David and Pleakley were affected too, but they dealt with it much better than the others. It was interesting for me to see how my family coped with losing me and how they dealt with it over those few weeks. I could tell all of them truly loved me, even if they had different ways of dealing with their grief.

"Stitch?" I was distracted out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realised I'd been standing at the entrance to the hallway, thinking for so long. Lilo was looking at me worriedly.

"You okay?" 

"Ih."

"Nani's getting impatient and I can't be late for hula again, so let's hurry and eat."

"Okeytaka."

Lilo gripped my paw tightly as we headed into the kitchen for breakfast.


	2. Bad Weather

Breakfast went exactly how I expected it to. Nani watched me cautiously, her eyes carefully inspecting each piece of pancake I put in my mouth. Jumba and Pleakley arrived a short time after we sat down to start eating. Jumba smiled instantly when he saw me and went over to scratch the back of my head. Pleakley just gave his usual nod of greeting, heading straight for the latte machine.

"Morning 626. Little girl," Jumba said.

Lilo smiled at him as he went to sit down, opening up his daily 'Kweltikwanian Times' and reading it. He had the newspaper delivered every morning.

"Uncle Jumba?" I heard Lilo speak, and looked at her. She had become adapted to calling Jumba her 'uncle' and Pleakley her 'aunt.' "How does that get here?" She was looking at the newspaper. 

Lilo had asked me this question recently as well, but I couldn't tell her as I had no idea myself. I looked back to my father.

"Is simple. I had postage set up via transportation pod in ship. Each morning Jumba receives newspaper. Much similar to how larger girl is receiving paper on weekends."

Lilo looked interested. "There's a transporter in the ship?"

"Eh... yes. But that is being out of bounds to little girl and 626."

I knew about the transporter. Jumba often used it to have spare parts delivered he couldn't access here on Earth and had the first fusion chamber delivered through it. It was out of bounds to me because in the past I would try to sneak random things into it and send them off to random planets to see what the outcome was. Needless to say I got into pretty big trouble for it. After that I could never figure out the password to get into it. I had no idea he was getting the newspaper through it but I knew Lilo was going to get ideas from this and sure enough, she looked intrigued.

"Can I see?"

"No. When I say is out of bounds, I am meaning it." 

He cast me a 'look' at that and in turn I gave him a big grin. Lilo noticed, but she didn't say anything. Nani did too apparently, having just walked in behind us.

"What's going on here?" I heard the older Pelekai sister ask from behind me. "Should I ask why Stitch is making that face?" she added hesitantly.

"No," Jumba responded instantly to that. He and I both knew she still had no idea what had happened to some of her belongings I'd sent off. I had no idea either to be honest.

"Just a glimpse? Pretty please?" Lilo started to beg.

"No, little girl! I am being very busy repairing damage to ship. There is big mess and you could easily fall and be injured. Maybe when ship is repaired, but until then, I am forbidding it."

"But—"

"No buts! Jumba's words are final!" I noticed Jumba seemed quite distant saying this. I knew why. He hated anything that reminded him of a month ago.

Pleakley remained quiet during this, but he looked between us, seemingly agreeing with Jumba. He hadn't seemed to talk much over the past few weeks and I had guessed it was how he was personally dealing with things.

"Okay Uncle Jumba," Lilo responded, looking down in dismay. I tapped her on the shoulder. "No worry Lilo. Go to beach today?"

She perked up at my reminder. "I totally forgot! It's Thursday!"

Shoving the rest of her breakfast into her mouth, she jumped from the table. I watched this and was about to shove the plate into my mouth when Nani grabbed it from me. 

"Oh no you don't!"

"Nasasay..." I moaned.

"No, Stitch!" she responded abruptly, putting the plate in the sink. 

I was quiet for a moment. "No glitch Naanee," I told her. "Stitch okay now."

She looked away. Jumba did as well.

"I'm sorry. I still..." she trailed off. Before my glitch Nani seemed to hardly care less how many plates I demolished—though she did get annoyed—so this was still hard for me to adapt to. I was so used to eating whatever I wanted. She was so careful now, even over the most basic of meals. "Just... hurry up and head on to class with Lilo. Don't be late again," she told me, kissing me on the nose.

After that she pulled back and quickly wiped at her eyes. I stared at her for a moment before I gave a nod and went to follow Lilo, but paused and turned to look at Jumba. He was staring at me, looking slightly anxious and I automatically knew why. I went over to him and held up my arms, and he picked me up for a hug.

"Have fun, my little one."

"Stitch will!"

My father smiled and put me back down before I quickly went to Lilo, who had stepped back into the kitchen to make sure I was following her when she hadn't seen me behind her.

* * *

The sky was a dull grey that morning, not the usual calm blue it had been over the past week. As Lilo scattered off towards the waves, I called out to her. 

"Be careful Lilo!"

She gave me a thumbs up, pulling out the peanut butter sandwich she'd prepared for her fish last night, and then dove beneath the waves. I sat down and stared out into the ocean depths. 

I hated water so much. Lilo on the other hand, loved it and she basically lived and breathed swimming. I just sank like a rock because of my molecular density. I was heavy. Stupid. Death however was a different fear for me to water. I couldn't remember much of it now and I didn't want to. It was like... nothing. You're there and then you're just... not. It's a strange experience not being aware of your own existence and I had that happen to me.

I quite often feared the thought that Lilo would not resurface one day because I couldn't save her if she didn't. I trusted her enough to know she was a good swimmer and had been swimming since she was a baby. She knew what she was doing but even so she was no match against Mother Nature; she was so tiny and the ocean was so big and it was hard for me not to worry for her every time she went in. Admittedly, I'd seen some pretty wild storms here during the three years since I'd arrived on Earth and today it certainly seemed as though one was brewing. 

After two minutes my foot tapped anxiously. My best friend hadn't broke the surface yet and I was starting to get scared for her safety. A sudden loud crack of thunder made me flinch.

"Lilo!" I called out, hoping she'd hear me though I doubted it. "Lilo! Bad sky!"

To my relief she broke the surface and waved to me and while I had her attention I pointed to the clouds. She made her way to the shore, looking behind her for a brief moment before jogging over to me.

"I heard it Stitch," she told me. "I heard you."

Picking up her towel, I wrapped it around her, and we both ducked against each other when there was a bolt of lightening in the distance. She held me close and I heard her heart race a little with my good hearing.

"Come on..."

Pushing against me gently, Lilo took my paw and we quickly ran from the beach to head to her hula class. I looked back at the sea for a moment or so as she had done before; the waves had really start to pick up, thrashing against the shore and I was glad she was out of there. We began to hurry away.

And that was when I realised we had been the only two there.

* * *

Lilo and I had just made it through the door when there was another loud crack of thunder outside. Moses had been about to address us, but at that the other girls in the class screamed and ducked against his leg. Lilo flinched again and held my paw tightly.

"Sorry Moses. It's Thursday and I couldn't find Pudge in his normal spot," she tried to explain as water dripped onto the floor.

"Uh... who, Lilo?" Confusion laced his tone and she stared at him for a moment.

"My fish! He controls the weather!" she told him before there was another bang outside. "I think he's in a bad mood today."

Moses just nodded. I could tell he didn't believe her but Lilo was too young to understand that herself. I could sense she was a little annoyed that he'd forgotten who Pudge was, but she didn't show it outwardly. After that I just took her towel and helped dry up the water to prevent one of the other girls from slipping, before opening up her duffel bag and handing her the hula costume we'd both made together a few nights back. I knew that today she was supposed to be rehearsing for another performance. This one was similar to the other one but for a different occasion.

Lilo was adamant that I'd perform with her this time and she'd put Moses on the spot about it, basically giving him no say in the matter, so I pulled out my own costume.

While Lilo went into the girls toilets to change out of her bathers, I sat down and stared at the mask in my hands. It was similar to the one I was going to wear last time. Moses instructed the girls to sit down and I could hear Mertle starting up her usual taunts about Lilo and how weird she was and once again it took everything I had inside of me not to pounce on the redhead. The only thing holding me back from it was a promise not to get Lilo into any more trouble.

I noticed they kept their distance from me too and I also knew why.

Nani had fought to get Moses to allow me back into the class after what I'd done when I had my second major glitch. I wasn't aware of what I was doing at the time although Lilo had told me that I'd destroyed one of the amplifiers and nearly caused a fire. Ever since that they'd all been afraid of me. Nani couldn't tell Moses that I was an alien of course, but she did tell him that I'd been on some kind of medication at the time that was making me insane. It had worked, if just barely.

Moses was going to refuse at first, but Lilo had cried, begging him not to ban me and that she needed me there. She told him about my brief brush with death and he seemed very touched. Finally he allowed me back, but on the condition that I wasn't allowed near the equipment any more. The girls, including Mertle, were far more afraid of me than they used to be, though I didn't really care about that as Lilo was my only concern. I looked towards the girls toilets as Moses started the class and flipped up my ears, listening. Lilo was taking a while. I wanted to go after her, but I wasn't allowed in there, so I just had to wait. Patience has never been my thing.

Eventually Lilo did come out. Mertle and the other brats started sniggering at her. She didn't seem to notice, approaching me before sitting down and pulling me into her lap, something she had started doing much more frequently as of late. Moses continued to address the class. I couldn't understand much of what was going on, but Lilo seemed quite happy and I was just glad she was. Her being happy made me happy.

I gazed up at her slightly. It had been so hard for her and I knew she had pent up regret of the worst sort so that often ate away at her good moods. As a result, it was rare for me to see her smiling, especially over the past month.

I knew it was solely due to the fact she had remorse and guilt for how she had treated me. Everyday she told me she was sorry for it, almost refusing to believe that I had forgiven her, even though I had countless times by now. I wasn't going to ever hold it against her. That hula competition had meant a lot to her considering it was something that her late mother had participated in and I knew just how much her mother meant to her. She had hurt me deeply during that time and I'd be lying to myself if I told myself otherwise, but I told her to let bygones be bygones. The main thing was that she understood that I wasn't in control of myself during those times and I would never, ever break a promise to her. When I did I wasn't myself. She meant too much to me.

I smiled when I felt her pushing her chin against the top of my head before she wrapped her arms around my stomach, cuddling me as Moses spoke. Lilo made me feel so loved. I looked up to her and nuzzled her happily.

"Lilo? Would you like to share any ideas?" It was Moses.

Everybody turned to face my best friend and she spoke over the top of my head. Mertle rolled her eyes at the sight of her holding me while the other girls just stared.

"I was thinking, what if we host a raffle? We can all pitch in together with donations for the prize. There can be a first, second and third place winner. The families coming to watch us can collect their tickets at the door then after the closing ceremony is when the winners are announced!"

"Oh that idea is SO lame," Mertle started. "It's SO not go—"

"That idea sounds wonderful, Lilo," Moses interrupted the brat. The redhead crossed her arms and pouted and I just grinned.

"Are you kidding me? She's probably just going to donate gross old bandages and claim they were from a rotting mummy she found or something."

"Mertle," Moses warned.

Lilo was quiet. I reached up and pet her head gently a few times and she responded by squeezing my paw. I hoped this wasn't affecting her as at that moment I couldn't tell if it was or not.

"I will consider all of your ideas tonight and choose one by tomorrow morning. But for now, I would like you to work on your ideas for your hulas, girls. We have a lot to get done before next week. I will give you twenty minutes and then we will start the next dress rehearsal."

Lilo pushed me gently and I got up from her lap. She picked up my mask, alongside hers, and then held my hand as we walked over to the group of other girls. She sat down but they moved a few inches away from her. I growled in warning, seeing the look on Lilo's face, and they freaked out, stopping what they were doing but still keeping their distance.

Lilo sat down beside me and the girls started to chat about their hulas. Mertle however, would just not let up with her attitude. Each time Lilo went to speak, she would butt in with her own opinions or ideas. I knew the girls were supposed to do their own thing with their hulas, but Moses had also instructed them all to work together to come up with a dance for the closing ceremony. Of course, when the other three spoke, Mertle listened, but as soon as Lilo spoke her voice was drowned out by the obnoxious brat. I was getting quite sick of it and started to growl again and since they were afraid of me, they looked scared.

"Stitch..." Lilo cooed. "It's okay."

"Ugh... what is it with you and your weird dog lately, freak-lo? It's like you can't do anything without him having to be right beside you. I would have thought he would be banned from being here. After all, he tried to kill us."

Oh no she did not.

"That's a lie!" Lilo retorted, now just as angry as I felt. "Stitch wasn't in control of what he was doing!"

"I don't believe you!" Mertle snapped, folding her arms. The other three just remained quiet. They hated getting involved between Lilo and Mertle's arguments, but they were completely useless anyway. None of them would lift a finger to defend Lilo and defy their precious queen. I was the only one that ever defended her besides Moses.

"It's TRUE!" Lilo was just upset now. After what she'd endured over the past month, she really didn't need this. Mertle needed to keep her big mouth shut.

I stood up and pulled up Lilo beside me. There was no sense her arguing with a complete idiot. "Iki bah-bah..."

"Stitch..." she started. I shook my head at her. 

"Naga el kiyotay. Ingo feebo ta... leega. Mertle baka," I told her quietly.

She closed her eyes and sighed, but gave a small smile at the insult. The girls were watching curiously and Mertle was glaring at Lilo.

"You're right, Stitch," she said, looking over at Mertle. "She is!"

"What?" Mertle asked angrily.

Lilo just stuck her tongue out at her. "Come on Stitch. They can do their own dance at the end, I'll do one with you!"

"Excuse me Lilo? What do you mean?" Moses asked. He had walked over to us and was listening intently to what was going on between the two.

"I want to do my own dance with Stitch, kumu. Each time I go to speak Mertle just interrupts me," she sounded distant.

Moses shook his head. "Mertle. I am starting to tire of this," he said gently. "I have told you that you all need to work together for this dance. That includes working with Lilo and her dog."

"But he tried to kill us!"

"Mertle, in the spirit of aloha, I think you need to be more tolerant of others. Lilo's sister explained to me what went on. It's water under the bridge now. Forgive and forget."

Mertle just sighed but kept her arms tightly crossed. "Okay, fine."

"Lilo come and sit down again. You are welcome to share your ideas." 

Lilo smiled at hearing that and went to sit down. Moses smiled as well, walking back over to his desk. I tilted my head slightly and watched the girls discuss their ideas and for once I was glad to see that Mertle was doing as Moses asked. She looked annoyed whenever Lilo spoke, but that was the extent of her actions. I couldn't figure out why this girl hated my best friend so much. She jeered her, called her all sorts of horrible names and excluded her from a lot of events as well as was a compulsive liar, yet Lilo still tried to be her friend; it was a vicious cycle and Lilo was very naïve. I just hoped as she grew older she would come to see that humans like Mertle could not be changed, but she was also too kind a soul. It really made me angry how Mertle treated her. I would love to have torn the brat limb from limb, but I wasn't going to get Lilo into trouble. I'd already caused her enough grief on that day.

Lilo had been about to speak when there was a bang loud enough to make even me jump overhead and a few seconds later the room went dark as the power went out. The girls freaked out and screamed. Moses had to jump up and tell everybody to calm down. Lilo simply just reached out for me and I could see her becoming anxious when she couldn't find me. I ran into her arms and pushed myself against her.

"Hagata!" 

"Stitch..." she murmured, nuzzling against me. She whispered into my ear. "I want to go home."

I knew Lilo masked her emotions well. She always had. But hearing this confirmed to me that Mertle had done more than enough damage for today. I picked up a single tear with a claw.

"Let me kill."

"No Stitch... it's okay," she tapped my nose after sniffling. "Baka, right?"

"Mertle dinko te fabba. Baka dak choota!" I responded.

Lilo giggled but I was just happy to hear her laughing at that at all. I hated Mertle so much. Stupid obnoxious brat.

"Alright girls, keep calm. We will just have to wait to the power comes back on. I know it is early, but I'm dismissing class early because of the weather, so have your stuff ready and I will call your parents to collect you once the rain settles a little. We will have to continue our dress rehearsal tomorrow."

I yawned. Lilo pushed her head into the back of mine. I expected Mertle to carry on about how much of a baby Lilo was but to my surprise she actually kept her mouth shut. In the darkness of the room I could see her quite clearly due to my vision. She looked afraid.

I grinned. Wimp.

"Stitch... I wonder who will pick us up?" Lilo asked me softly.

I had no idea myself. "Naga nota."

"Nani's at work today. It was supposed to be an important day for her so I don't know if she can get us."

I shrugged. "Wait and see?"

"Okay Stitch."

I nuzzled her and sat in her lap again while we waited. Outside, the rain picked up.


	3. Something's Bothering Jumba

Lilo had been correct about Nani not being able to collect us. In the end Moses told us that our 'uncle' would be picking us up. He walked over to us and addressed Lilo about it. The power had come back on shortly after.

Lilo sat with me by the doorway. She was looking out of the window at the weather and I joined her, looking out as well. I could hear Mertle talking to the other three girls about her, but ignored it just as Lilo was doing; she was well aware of how much they talked about her behind her back. She was a strong girl and I admired her for that. Not only that, kept her cool around Mertle far more than I did. If she hurt Lilo to a point beyond repair I was more than ready to kick her butt into oblivion. I wouldn't care if she ended up in hospital from it.

Lilo probably would though. She trusted I wasn't violent anymore, let alone out to hurt people. I couldn't break that promise to her because I was good now, not bad. The thought of being bad again and hurting Lilo again scared me the most and I lowered my ears as I contemplated on what I'd just thought. Lilo must have noticed because she asked me if I was okay.

"Stitch okeytaka," I told her, and she rubbed my back as I looked out of the window. The rain suddenly started belting down. "Ugh... doonga haga... bla-bla."

Lilo just gave me a sad smile. "I'm sure it will stop by the time Jumba gets here."

Unfortunately, it didn't. Jumba pulled up in the buggy and beeped to us from outside.

"We'll have to run," Lilo told me. "Ready?"

I groaned. She held my paw again and we ran out to the buggy, clambering inside. Lilo threw her bag across the seat as I shook the water out of my fur and she laughed as most of it hit her.

"Haga bla-bla," I shuddered.

Jumba looked at me in the rear-view mirror. "Heh. Bad weather, no?"

Lilo just sighed. "I was really looking forward to dress rehearsal today. But thanks for picking us up Uncle Jumba."

"Eh... is no problem. Once storm started I had to stop working on ship."

I stared at him and could see him staring back at me. He looked back to the road as he drove home slowly.

He pulled to a stop however at a road closure sign. The road led up to our house, but it had been blocked off due to mild flooding. That section of the road actually went through a small creek. When it rained heavy like it had been today, it was prone to flooding.

"Ack... should not have come this way, should have gone other way!" my father groaned.

Lilo looked out of the window. "Hey! We're next to KiKi's! Why don't we get something to eat?"

"Home," I told her.

"But we can't Stitch. The road is flooded."

I sighed. I didn't exactly want to go in there, but I hated disappointing Lilo. "Akitakacha."

"Thanks Stitch!" she reached over and hugged me. "Come on Jumba!"

He just gave a nod, putting on his disguise after he parked the buggy. I could tell Jumba didn't exactly want to either, but as soon as we got inside the café he seemed to change his mind upon seeing the food. He wasn't the only one—I did too. It smelled great.

"I'll get us something to eat," Lilo said to me, waving what I'd heard Pleakley once call a 'leafy green' in my face. "Why don't you and Jumba find somewhere to sit, Stitch?"

"Okeytaka."

My father was busy looking at a row of cakes behind the counter. I tugged on his shorts and we looked for a vacant table together.

"Aka tiki baba asafi," I told him, pointing in the direction of a table towards the back.

"I am seeing it."

We claimed the table and shortly after sitting down and Jumba stared out of the window. I just dumped the sugar samples on there into my mouth and looked around for some more but there weren't any.

"Choota."

"626?"

I looked up. I'd been slouching down against the table. "Ih?"

Jumba reached over and scratched my head. I closed my eyes. I felt him picking me up and placing me into his lap and I looked up at him. 

"Eh..." he started, but smiled. I understood.

Jumba would find any excuse to spend more time with me lately and this circumstance was apparently one good reason for him to. While Lilo was ordering I rested my head back against his big belly. Jumba was very comfy. 

"Boochita nascatakacha," I spoke up to him and I heard the air leave his lungs. He put his hand around me.

"You too. My son."

I smiled happily.

Lilo came back a few minutes after that and looked quite pleased to see me sitting in Jumba's lap. She pushed what she'd ordered us towards us and Jumba just stared. After a moments hesitation, he picked up the bowl and shoved the contents into his mouth. I looked up at him and did the same. Lilo just put her hand to her head. 

"At home, that's okay. Here, not so much."

I looked around. A few people were staring at us.

"Soka..." I said sheepishly. She just smiled at me and shook her head.

"Well... at least I know where you get your food habits from," she replied, giving Jumba a 'look'.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused.

"Never mind."

Jumba just looked at me and I shrugged back. After that he went back to window gazing while Lilo ate her meal. She watched us thoughtfully. I noticed a sugar packet beside her hot chocolate and pointed to it.

A roll of her eyes, before she tossed one towards me. "Don't worry, I got two."

I grinned. I'd devoured it—paper and all—in seconds. Lilo looked disgusted, but then she just shrugged and ripped open her own sugar packet, dumping the contents into her drink. I looked up at my father again as she did so.

"Doonga naga bootifa."

He chuckled. "Yes, I know 626."

I was quiet for a moment. "Jumba okeytaka?"

He sighed. Lilo was watching us intently.

"Isa accata..." he responded and Lilo looked extremely intrigued. She rarely heard Jumba speaking in our language.

I tilted my head. "Yamtaka da feebu. Biki daktash?"

He sighed. "Naga kom jishnit. Muquad. Naga ret tichquel," he responded to me quietly.

"Gatchi nosty?" I asked sadly.

"Yes 626."

I nodded. "Smish."

"Everything okay?" Lilo asked us, looking fascinated.

"Yes little girl," Jumba told her. "Not to be worrying."

I knew Lilo was going to press me about this later. Jumba didn't want to talk to me about what was on his mind and I respected him enough not to press it. He only spoke to me in our native tongue when he wanted to discuss matters privately.

Jumba had confided in me in the past. After I had died, our bond had strengthened significantly and the times I'd slept beside him he'd spoken to me about various things that were bothering him. Considering not once had he done this in the past, I figured it was because my death had made him realise that I wasn't as invincible as he thought I was. He had another chance with me and he was making the most of it.

He told me about things I never knew. Things about his former business partner, Dr Habbitrale. They'd run a joke shop together for a short time. Things about his ex-wife, though they were very blunt and brief. His test batches of other experiments before me, which were a blur to me now. The only other experiment I knew of was Experiment 621, but I vaguely remembered what happened between me and him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to remember. Jumba tended to dodge the subject when I asked him about it anyway.

I didn't have any memories that stood out of his ex-wife. But I knew something was off about her, considering how Jumba reacted about it. He'd never even told me her name. I guessed she likely would've been my 'mother' since Jumba was my dad.

Jumba trusted me above anybody else in our ohana. He had some truly dark times in his past and hearing about them had made me quite sad. He'd created me because he'd feared he would never find another woman that would accept him with his work and he'd felt stuck in his position. His ex-wife had apparently been opposed to the idea of a child, however he'd always wanted a child. And he wanted a personal revenge against something, but never told me what it was. Long before Lilo he programmed me to destroy originally and sent me out as a hooligan to destroy various worlds. I don't remember much of it now but I do remember when the police eventually caught us.

As much as I respected my creator, I am glad that I didn't end up going through with my original programming and changed. I probably would have ended up killing a lot more people had I never met Lilo, considering the destruction I caused out on Jumba's missions. I knew my original programming was supposed to be evil, but I couldn't ever truly believe that Jumba was capable of being evil himself and I didn't want to—he just never seemed like the truly evil type to me because apart from sending me out to destroy things, he'd also raised me. Maybe he'd mellowed out after we landed on Earth, like I did.

I never knew up until only a week ago that Jumba had used some of his own DNA to create me. I had thought about it in the past, and suspected it considering we looked so similar to each other and it always made me wonder, but he'd never actually directly confirmed it for sure, always just referring to me as an experiment—although he'd always been a father-figure to me and called me his son. I had still referred to him as my father and always thought he'd created me to resemble him, automatically making me his son, but now I knew for sure that the genetic link was there, I was beyond elated about it. And I think that's what helped my father to come out of his sad slump. He was scared that I hated him for only creating me to destroy for him but honestly? I'd had a lot of fun on those missions. I could never hate him for that. He had been good to me.

When I had said to him before that I loved him, he'd given one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen. And he had a huge head so I'd seen some pretty big smiles in the past.

"Oh look. The rain's stopped," Lilo said suddenly, interrupting my train of thought. "Let's go home."

I looked out of the window as well. It certainly had.

Jumba gave a nod. I jumped out of his lap and followed Lilo out to the car, trying to avoid stepping in the puddles.


	4. Jumba's Plan

The rain continued for the rest of the day, which meant we had no chance of going outside to do anything. I could tell Jumba was irritated. I was as well; I had wanted to explore the forest with Lilo. Nani was still at work. She had rang before to say she would be staying back late today. Apparently the rain had caused mild flooding at the rental shack.

Jumba sat on the chair in the living room, Pleakley beside him. Both of them were watching one of Lilo's documentaries about Elvis. I had no idea where David was as I hadn't seen him all day, so he must have probably gone back home for a while.

While Lilo was up in our bedroom, I sat on the floor in front of Jumba and Pleakley. I wasn't so much interested in the documentary—I'd seen it many times before on account of Lilo—so I just gazed in the direction of the window. The rain was hitting against it quite hard and the wind had picked up quite a bit. I knew Kauai had tropical storms but this was one of the worst I'd seen. The others wouldn't have heard it, but my hearing allowed me to pick up on the numerous creaks and groans of the house shifting under the winds. I flipped up my ears and twitched them, hoping nothing would happen to our home. It was built on wooden slats and I knew in the event of a hurricane it had no chance. While Kauai had bad storms thankfully there had never been a hurricane.

Jumba was distracted when I did this. I could see him staring at me out the corner of my eye.

"Isn't it amazing how he moves his hips like that?" Pleakely suddenly voiced. He stood up, trying to imitate Elvis on the TV. "How does he do it?"

"Who cares," Jumba responded, his voice sounding dull as he looked at the window. "Curse this despicable Earth weather. I will get nothing done at this rate."

"Can't you just wait till it stops?" Pleakley asked him. "It's not as if we need the ship for anything right now, right?"

Jumba shook his head. "Is not that. I am worried about winds blowing off tarp. I set it nice and secure but rains can cause damage to interior of ship since it is unprotected underneath," he seemed to think for a moment and then stood up. "I am going out to check."

"Naga hugata. Muddy. Jumba slip and fall," I said to him.

He looked at me. "I will be fine, 626."

I wasn't so sure on that as I ran out after him through the doggy door as he left. Just as it had sounded from the inside, the rain was brutal. Jumba had brought the family umbrella but it did nothing. My fur was drenched within seconds and the wind was whipping my ears back.

Shuddering, I followed Jumba up the pathway to the ship. Despite being a genius I knew he was quite clumsy as well and sure enough my prediction came true—before he reached the top step he slipped and cried out as he began to topple backwards. I lunged forward and caught him in all four arms.

"626!" he voiced, startled. I carried him up to the tarp and we both went under it, out of the rain.

"No listen to me," I said to him.

He rolled his eyes. "626 you know me better than I know myself."

I just looked at him and shrugged, before looking at the side of the ship.

When I'd had my final glitch, the one that killed me and fried out my circuits, I'd lost control of the ship and crashed it into the mountains. Thankfully only one side of the ship had been damaged and the engines and hyperdrive were still in tact. Some of the front panels of the ship had come clean off and when I crashed I had been thrown through the window. Jumba was doing his best to fix it, but he had required some help. A few members of the UGF had come by, ordered to by the Grand Councilwoman and they had helped him out over a period of three days. The rest, Jumba was capable of doing himself. The only thing that limited him was waiting on particular parts to be delivered through the transporter. They weren't accessible on Earth.

Jumba was busy looking up at the side of the ship. Most of it had been repaired but there was still a-ways to go. As I stood beside him after making my way through scrap metal and bits of debris I could see why he wouldn't allow Lilo up here. I picked up some red scrap metal and stared at it before tossing it aside. It clanged, making Jumba jump slightly. He looked at me. My ears were blowing wildly in the wind and around us the tarp fluttered.

"Not sure how long it's going to take me to fix ship fully," he told me, sitting down. I went over to him and sat on his knee and he pulled out a rag, starting to dry my fur. "Could be few more weeks."

"Ih."

I felt him stroke my head. "I am not angry about it."

I was glad about that. I'd broken some of Jumba's expensive equipment in the past, but nothing was comparable to the damage of the ship.

"I'd be hypocrite if I was 626," he continued and I tilted my head at him, confused.

"Gaba?"

He laughed. "I built you to destroy."

I tried to smile, but I just couldn't. I sighed. Jumba wrapped me in the rag. After a moment or so I realised it was a pair of his boxers. They were huge!

"You gave me big, big scare. When you took ship and left."

I felt so bad about that and I was well aware that I'd scared them all. At the time I wasn't thinking straight. All I could think about was scratching Lilo and how dangerous I was. The one thing I'd had so many nightmares about had come true and I had just wanted to get away from them. I would have rathered live on an isolated planet for the rest of my life than hurt Lilo—or my family for that matter—again through a glitch that I had no control over myself.

"I can't lose you, 626. Not again."

I lowered my ears and looked up at my father sadly. He was closing his eyes and looking away. I put a paw on his finger.

"Stitch will tell if hurts," I said. "Tell Jumba. Chi chabida."

He looked at me sadly. "After ship is repaired, I will be upgrading all equipment. I am also going to be implanting you with microchip."

"Microchip? In Stitch?"

He nodded. "Is nothing to be concerned about, 626. The chip will tell Jumba if something is going wrong with your circuits. I have plans waiting to be developed. This time I will be prepared."

I gave a nod. "Stitch... hope nothing go wrong."

"Me too."

I trusted Jumba enough to know what he was doing. He'd worked on my circuits in the past as well as done numerous tests on me. If he wanted to install a microchip I had no issue with it, especially if it was designed to benefit me. The wind howled around the tarp at that moment and Jumba held me close. There was still water in my fur so I shivered slightly. It had been warm before but now the wind was quite cold, and Jumba looked cold as well despite his thick skin.

"Quana chi doonga. Fava no pugy?" I asked.

He gave a nod, standing up. "Curse this stupid Earth weather."

"Icky. Haga bla-bla." I agreed.

Holding me in one arm, he quickly checked the tarp was secure and then headed back down the stairs to the house. I watched him closely in case he slipped again.

* * *

Lilo had been searching for me when we got back inside. Jumba still had me wrapped in his boxers. He set me down as she rushed over to me.

"Stitch! There you are!"

I smiled at her happily. "Hello Lilo!"

She pulled the material away from me and stared at it. I could tell she was confused. I couldn't blame her.

"626 was soaking from rain. I use those as old rag, but served well as towel," Jumba told her, holding a towel he'd claimed from the linen cupboard. "I think I'll have warm shower."

Pleakley just stared at us. "So how's this hula dance thing of yours going?"

Lilo sighed, and sat down beside me. "Class was cancelled because of the weather."

"Well... you can still practice here, right?"

"Yeah," Lilo looked at me at that.

"Go to room?" I stared back at her. I could always tell when something was bothering her.

She gave a nod and reached for my paw. I happily obliged and we headed up to the dome. Once inside, she stepped ahead of me with her back turned. 

"Can you get the costumes out of the bag?" 

"Okeytaka!" I said happily, eager to practice with her. I opened up her hula bag and pulled out our costumes, but then to my horror, I heard her burst into tears. "Lilo!"

Dropping my costume, I bolted across to her and wrapped my arms around her. All four of them, considering I still had my extra ones out from before. She cried into my shoulder and I put a paw to the back of her head. Part of me knew why she was crying, but the other part of me thought it might have had something to do with Mertle. I asked her if this was the case quietly but she didn't respond. Eventually she pulled back and snivelled, looking up at me. I picked up a tear with a claw, once again being faced with those distant scratch marks etched into her delicate cheek. They would be there forever. I really hated myself for that.

"Oh Stitch," she cried softly. I pulled her into my lap. "Why was I so stupid."

"You weren't," I told her. "Mother special to you. Tach'nen."

"I should have listened to you... you needed me and I only cared about my stupid hula dance."

I sighed. I'd been through this so many times with her, but I was willing to let her have as long as she needed to deal with her guilt.

"Stitch forgives you. No hold against."

She gripped at the fur on my chest. "I know. I just... find it hard to believe. After all you..." she trailed off.

"Stitch died," I said firmly. "But Stitch here now. Alive and well."

I know she hated hearing that and sure enough, more tears streamed from her eyes. But I had to be blunt with her. She had to learn to accept it and move on because if she didn't accept that I had forgiven her then she never would be able to do so. I gazed into her eyes and she eventually locked eye contact, staring deeply back into mine.

I gripped her hand. "No be sad," I told her softly. "Lilo, bring me back. Stitch loves you."

She sobbed at that and pushed herself into me. "I need you."

I just nodded quietly. Eventually she settled down. I handed her a tissue and stood up, putting the new tiki mask I'd created on my head.

"Let's dance baby!" I yelled, gliding across the floorboards on my knees and holding an arm out straight ahead of me, trying to imitate Elvis.

Finally, a laugh. She smiled at me and stood up.

"Silly Stitch," she said, going over to get her own costume. But she smiled.

"I love you too."


	5. Stitch's Story

Nani was in a grumpy mood when she arrived home from work. The family was relatively quiet about it, not wanting to make it worse. Even David was keeping to himself. Lilo, Jumba and Pleakley all remained in the living room watching the news. They wanted to see the weather updates. I took it upon myself to help Nani with the dinner as I could tell she was stressed. Occasionally Lilo kept checking around the door to watch me. It made me laugh, though I knew her reasoning for it was quite upsetting.

She was very overprotective of me.

David was sitting at the kitchen table, watching us with his head in his hands. He watched both of us, but mainly was interested in watching what I was doing.

"Stitch, here. Mash this up."

Nani handed me a large bowl of sweet potato. I set to work mashing it.

"So... was there much damage?" David asked hesitantly.

Nani sighed as she cut up the vegetables. "Mild water damage. Most of the equipment is okay. But Old Man Wong is closing the shack down for a few days. Because it's a wooden floor it's going to need to be replaced due to mould issues so I have to go back there tomorrow afternoon and help out. Provided the weather is a bit better."

"So... will you need me to pick up Lilo from hula class?" 

"Oh, right. Class was cancelled today, wasn't it?" she responded.

"Aye. Due to the weather. She has to go back tomorrow."

A groan from Nani. "Don't tell me. Afternoon?"

David pushed back his chair. "Actually, I'm not sure on that. Let me ask her."

"Afternoon," I spoke up, causing both of them to pause and look at me. "No morning class."

"Oh," David responded, sitting back down. He looked slightly uneasy. I knew he forgot that I often went to hula class with Lilo. Even after two years it still shocked him to hear me speak sometimes as well. I wondered about it sometimes, but had come to a conclusion that David simply took longer to adjust than other humans. He didn't mean anything bad by it. Like the others, he was completely devastated when I'd died. So I knew he cared for me. David had never believed in aliens—when Jumba, Pleakley and I had arrived on Earth and he had learned about us, he took a long time to accept it. He seemed to think we were cool though, often bringing up the topic of space surfing a few times.

I liked David, even if he did have a reserved nature. I often thought about talking to him more and decided to give it a try after dinner. Both of them went quiet again and Nani just went back to cutting the vegetables. I finished mashing the sweet potato and started to set the cutlery on the table. David watched me intently but didn't say anything about it.

"Thank you Stitch," Nani smiled, patting me on the head. "Tell the others to come in."

"Okay Naanee," I responded, heading in to call the rest of our ohana for dinner.

* * *

Later that evening, Lilo decided to go to bed early. She gripped my hand, asking me when I'd be up. I knew what that meant; we liked to pretend to go to sleep after Nani said goodnight to us, but we stayed up for a little bit practicing our hula. She looked keen. I was helping Nani clear off the dinner table and wash up at that point, so I told her I'd be up shortly. Nani looked so tired that I thought she was going to drift to sleep on the spot.

"Naanee fooboo cha tagas yon?" I asked her.

She jumped a little and looked at me. I could tell she was confused. "Uh, what Stitch?"

I paused, thinking about my words. Despite getting better at it, English was still something I often struggled with. "Naanee. Tired... ack... ackter"—I struggled to remember the right word. That was it!—"after.. day big?"

When she just looked even more confused I tried again. "Naanee tired after day big?"

It took her a moment, but then she seemed to realise what I was asking her. "Oh, big day. Yeah... it was a long day Stitch. I'm quite tired."

I gave a nod. "Naanee go to bed, get rest, ih? Meega finish."

She gave me a heartfelt smile. She didn't say anything but instead she reached down and picked me up, holding me up to eye level.

I wondered what she was going to do. She simply put me over her shoulder in a hug and I could feel her scratching the nape of my neck. Normally I would have been surprised by this, but Nani had started to do this more often lately so I'd become used to it. I had also noticed she tended to do it when nobody else was in the room. In the past she'd never done this, so it was nice for me. Each member of the family had their different ways of coping with what had happened to me and each of them expressed their gratitude and affection in various ways after that day. This was hers.

I couldn't stop myself from purring, though I think that's what she wanted. She laughed slightly, but gazed into my eyes.

"Naanee okeytaka?" I eventually asked when she didn't look away.

She just gave me a soft smile. "Sometimes, I still can't believe that Jumba created you."

"Eh... ih?" I was surprised to hear that. I honestly had no idea how to respond to it and I had noticed Nani had been staring at me far more frequently as of late—especially over the past two weeks. I began to wonder...

"Stitch. I know that Jumba created you but..."

I tilted my head. "Neesa?"

She paused. "You two just look so alike. And the way he's been treating you ever since... it's been..." she trailed off. "Stitch, is he...?"

I realised what she was asking, and gave a big proud smile. "Ih!"

Nani looked shocked for a moment or so, but then smiled at me. "Well, that explains that."

She ruffled the fur on my head and then set me down. I looked up at her.

"Thanks Stitch," she said to me, looking around the clean kitchen. "I appreciate your help."

"You're welcome!"

"I'll say goodnight to the others."

I gave a nod. "Jhua tehrqua."

I knew she understood what I said there. She'd often heard it from me before. She looked back at me before she left the kitchen.

"Goodnight Stitch."

* * *

It was quiet by the time I finished drying the last plate. After resisting the temptation to eat it, I put it back into the cupboard and threw the towel onto the kitchen counter, heading into the living area. Jumba and Pleakley weren't there. I heard them moving about in their room and I could also hear Lilo upstairs in our bedroom.

David was on the couch, staring boredly at the television. A movie was on but he seemed distracted. When I walked in and climbed up to sit beside him he stared at me.

"Ey Stitch."

"Aloha," I responded.

He stared at me for a moment or so, before looking back to the television quietly. I crossed my legs and rocked on the couch slightly, before settling back. David wasn't uneasy around me, but he was usually quiet like this. After ten or so minutes, I tried talking to him.

"David busy day?"

A look of mild surprise crossed his features at hearing that from me. "Hm?"

"No home," I told him.

He seemed to think about what I'd asked. "Ah. Just at home, cleaning the place."

I gave a nod.

"Stitch, busy day. With Lilo. Doing new hula dance. Need lot of practice." 

Again, David seemed surprised by this. I knew it was because I'd never really sat and spoken to him before.

"What... is your new hula about?" he asked, making an effort to keep the conversation going. I could tell it was hard for him.

"Same as other. Heeieeaka."

Much like Nani he was confused. "Oh, Hi'iaka."

"Ih."

"What means that word, Stitch. Eeeh... eh?"

"Ih?" I repeated, and he nodded. "Means 'yes' and 'ok'."

"Ah, I see," David responded, looking quite interested. "You have a very interesting language."

I simply smiled, nodding. "Dougabba."

He went back to watching the TV after that. My ears flipped up when I heard Lilo calling me from up in the dome and when I pushed myself down from the couch he watched me curiously.

"Lilo," I pointed in the direction of our dome. "Call."

"Okay then," he smiled at me. "Have fun."

I scurried off towards the dome, opening up the door and heading up the stairs.

* * *

"Stitch!" Lilo cried happily when I stepped onto the landing. She barrelled into me and knocked me over, both of us laughing happily as we rolled about on the floor. I pinned her beneath me, but only gently—I knew how easily I could hurt her. I stared into her eyes as I pinned her arms down and then used my two lower arms to pin her legs down.

She stared back up at me confused. "...Stitch?"

I remained quiet for a moment or so to throw her off, showing no expression on my face before I sat up and yelled. "Stitch wins!"

Lilo threw herself at me and tackled me back to the floor again. I laughed. Eventually she lost her breath and collapsed across the floor beside me. I looked over at her.

"You're still fine to do the Hi'iaka story with me, right Stitch?" she asked me softly.

"Ih," I responded.

She gripped my paw. "Are you sure? We can always do another dance if it bothers you too much."

I shook my head at her. "Naga. If Lilo want to do, Stitch happy to do."

She gave a nod, staring up at the ceiling. Normally we had the roof opened up at night but the weather kind of ruined that for us. Lilo asked me something interesting.

"Stitch? What is space like?"

I sat up and stared at her. "Jajie?"

She gave a nod. I put a claw to my mouth and thought. The only memories I had of space were distant memories of the planets Jumba had sent me on missions to and Turo's architecture, though I didn't get to see much of the actual planet as we were in relative buildings. I vaguely remembered Kweltikwan and Jumba's lab. When he had visited Kweltikwan with me he had always kept me hidden. I told her what I could remember.

"Big. Open."

She laughed. "I know that Stitch. I mean... where you came from. What was your home planet like?"

"Stitch naga remember much," I said, looking at her. "But Kweltikwan... big... purple. Lots of purple and blue trees. Green sky. Jumba kept Stitch hidden."

"He did?"

I gave a nod. "Stitch illegal."

"Oh... right," she responded.

"Stitch... created in Jumba lab. Then sent out to destroy," I looked away. "Sent to worlds. Jumba wanted Stitch to collect things. Big missions. But also destroy."

"Did you hurt anybody?" Lilo asked me sadly. She was aware of my original destructive programming.

I couldn't face her, but I also couldn't lie to her. "Ih. Stitch very bad. Hurt innocent aliens. Killed police soldiers."

Lilo looked afraid. She went quiet.

"They all try to kill me," I tried to explain. "Hated me. Stitch, ugly mutant. Wanted me to die."

She said nothing but simply reached over and pulled me into a hug. "I don't hate you. You're the best thing to ever happen to me. And you're not ugly or a mutant at all."

"Lilo same," I responded. "Lilo change Stitch."

I felt her nuzzling her head into my shoulder and she gently ran her hands along my the fur of my lower arms.

"Why did they want you to die?"

"Illegal," I repeated. "Jumba criminal."

I still recalled the day we finally got arrested. They wouldn't listen to Jumba's pleas about my molecules needing to be charged. They didn't care. They just saw us as monsters. The whole council did. And because of what those police officers had done, I had ended up momentarily dying and breaking Lilo's heart. I hated those police officers so much. I'd probably kill them if I knew who they were. Not just for breaking Lilo's heart, but Jumba's too.

"Stitch and Jumba... put on trial," I started to explain. "Stitch sentenced to life on desert asteroid. Jumba go to jail. But I'm clever!" I grinned. "Stitch escaped in no time!" I pretended to be holding a blaster gun and stood up, shooting around the room. "Pew pew! Guards fire at Stitch! Meega-o-itumi! Ziz-ziz, tsi'cong! Air-vent! Let's escape! Chabata!"

Lilo watched me curiously. I tried to make it interesting for her as she seemed a bit distant.

"Stitch destroy power to ship. Escape in police cruiser. Red one! My favourite colour!" I grinned. "Blast away! Escape from shooting guards, but then... tsi'cong!" I made an explosion with my hands. "Crash into Stitch. BOOM! Stitch activate hyper-drive and blast off. Blast off to Earth!"

At this, Lilo perked right up. I'd never told her this before. "Earth? Here?"

"Ih, ih!" I told her happily.

"I... remember that..." I heard her say, but had no idea what she meant by that. "The falling star!"

I tilted my head at her.

"That night, the night before I met you at the pound. We saw something come out of the sky and crash. It was green. I thought it was a star, but it was you!"

I smiled and gave a nod.

"Crash here. Big explosion. Stitch, not know where is. Strange planet! Doonga! Stitch haga bla-bla earth. Kweesta! Then hit by big wheels and get knocked out. Stitch wake up... meet you. Tada!"

I grinned at her. She knew I'd tried to use her as a shield, but I wasn't going to bring that up. I was bad back then. Back when I'd met her. She understood that.

Lilo smiled slightly, but she gave a clap. "Very nice story, Stitch!"

I bowed. "Takka, takka."

"Ok silly," she flicked me on the nose. "I'm just glad you did crash here. Want to practice some more?"

I gave a nod and went to get my costume. We climbed up onto Lilo's bunk and started practicing our new and improved dance. Lilo called it the '2.0' dance. I watched her as she moved about the bed beside me. She seemed much happier. That was all that mattered to me, seeing her happy.

I was bad once. I had hurt and killed in the past. Like Jumba, my past was dark. Lilo was too young to understand the extent of damage I'd really done. I just hoped she would never bear witness to that side of me. I would rather die than see her in pain.

I watched her dance intently.

I couldn't imagine how she'd react to seeing what I'd done. Destroying the amplifier in the hula school was nothing. In the past I'd destroyed buildings by throwing cruisers into them, causing fires and devastating explosions. I had four blasters, provided by Jumba, that I'd gone around shooting and anybody that was unfortunate to cross my path ended up dying. At the time I was proud, because that was what I was designed to do and I'd wanted to make my father happy. Now thinking about it made me feel sick. I wasn't a murderer.

I'd never told her about this. I didn't want her to know. Jumba and I kept it only between us and he had sworn me to silence. The Grand Councilwoman knew of our heinous crimes, though she had forgiven us. Forgiven me when she'd seen I'd been given a three hundred and sixty degree rehabilitation by Lilo. As for the Federation, we were hated strongly by them and I knew that should we return to our home planet of Kweltikwan we'd be executed. I often wondered how many I'd actually killed to warrant that kind of punishment and I hated myself for it. For my past and what I'd done. Because back then I wasn't Stitch.

I was Experiment 626.


	6. Like Father, Like Son

I found it particularly hard to sleep that night. I could hear Lilo's gentle breathing from her bunk above me, but it wasn't her that was keeping me awake. It was the weather. I could hear the rain pelting against the dome roof. I wondered what on earth was going on and it actually worried me a little.

Some nights I was afraid of falling asleep. Afraid those nightmares would come back. The memory was vague now, but I still remembered bits and pieces of one particular dream in which I hurt Lilo. It had scared me so much, but I had never ever expected it would actually come true. I still remembered her scream. Her shock to seeing the blood on her hand after feeling her cheek. It honestly haunted me. And now I had to live with seeing those scars every time I looked at her face. They were permanent—a permanent reminder of what my destructive programming was capable of when I wasn't in control. It made me shudder.

A sudden bang of thunder outside made me jump awake. I was on the verge of drifting. I could hear Lilo's heart racing. It obviously scared her and had woken her up. Her breathing was fast. She let out a soft moan when a bright flash of lightening lit up the dome.

"Stitch... Stitch!" I heard her call softly. I sat up in my bed. She became anxious. "Stitch!"

"I'm here Lilo, it's okay!" I called up to her.

She was quiet at that, but I heard her start to calm down. She shrieked though when another bang shook the windows. I heard her start to cry. Lilo was a strong girl. But thunderstorms like this really scared her. I knew it was because of the circumstances of her parents death. I pushed back the covers and leaped out of my bed, crawling up the post to the top bunk and without saying anything I waddled over the bedsheets to her and climbed in beside her. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and buried her head into my cheek.

"I... think I made Pudge mad but I don't know why..." she said sadly.

I knew this wasn't the case, but in response I just let out a purr. It usually helped comfort her when I did that.

The thunderstorm lingered for a while longer. Each time there was a bang, she jumped against me. I just soothed her with purrs. Eventually the storm passed over and became a distant rumble. The rain started to ease. She drifted off to sleep against me. As she did so I looked up to the pictures she had pinned up on the headboard of her bed. Lots of pictures of fat tourist butts, and that random sun-burned tourist guy that always dropped his ice-cream, but there was a new one on there now. It had been there for a while.

It was another badness level chart she had drawn, identical to the blue one I had before. I'd put a big red cross through that one, cancelling out everything. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I'm pretty sure Lilo threw it away at some point, or stashed it out of sight. This new one she'd made shortly after I'd been revived. It was green. But instead of the good/bad box indicators of the previous one, she had only one box on there.

Permanent Good.

I stared at it for a while before drifting off to sleep. It comforted me. More so than Lilo would ever know.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of Nani entering the dome the next morning. I could hear her hesitate, knowing that she saw my bed empty. Sure enough, her face peered up at us from the end of the bunk bed. I was still snuggled against Lilo, who was sound asleep. I peered down at Nani.

"Breakfast. Old Man Wong also called. The hut was badly flooded last night, so it's closed down for repairs. I won't be able to go back for a few days. I'm not sure if he wants me to go help clean up."

I put two and two together. "Nani take us to hula class today?"

She gave a nod. "Come down before it gets cold. Jumba's asking for you," she paused at that and looked at me. I tilted my head, confused. She remained there, staring at seemingly nothing before smiling at me. "Or should I say... your father is asking for you?"

I thought back to yesterday, when she'd asked me if we were related. I laughed happily. Nani smiled at me and then climbed back down, heading downstairs.

I laid my head back against Lilo's pillow and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before staring at her as she slept. Her hair was a matted mess and some strands covered her eyes. I reached across and gently shifted them so I could see her better. She'd always been a bed-head.

She was almost nine now. I'd met her when she was six. She'd grown a few inches and matured a little, but everything else about her was the same. She still loved practicing voodoo and watching old horror movies. She wanted to go see a new 'Wasp Mummies' movie that was coming out in a few weeks (she'd been obsessing over it actually) but Nani wouldn't allow her as it was PG-13. I said I'd take her but Nani said no 'pets' were allowed in the cinema. It annoyed me sometimes that I still had to play the role of a dog out in public, but I had no choice.

Lilo also had an interest in drawing now. She'd been somewhat of a 'psychologist' to me when I was glitching and drew pictures of my nightmares. I'd thrown half of those pictures into the river so we both have no idea what happened to them. Her artwork covered the walls of our dome. Most of the pictures were of me, but in them I wasn't stealing ice-cream or destroying buildings or sitting on old ladies. I was happy and laughing with our family. I really liked her pictures.

A small snort interrupted my thoughts and I turned to see her gazing at me groggily. I smiled and pushed my nose against hers. She returned the smile and hugged me tightly.

"Good morning Mr Blue."

"Ahua sha Miss... um... Brown?"

Lilo laughed. "Pelekai will do," she said before she flicked me on the nose. "Something smells good."

"Breakfast." I told her.

She grinned and pushed back the covers, going to climb down. Instead I grabbed her and hoisted her onto my back before holding onto her with my extra arms and walking up across the dome roof before going down the stair well. Lilo gripped onto me tightly. She absolutely loved it. When I'd first started training her to do this, she'd been scared, but after a few tries she got the hang of it and was able to trust me enough that I wasn't going to let her fall. Plus, she loved it, so that was a bonus. Nani on the other hand had literally dropped the dinner she'd been cooking one night when she saw us do this. Lilo was very light for me. I would never let her fall.

At the end of the stairwell, I jumped down and let Lilo off my back. She ruffled my head and kissed my nose before we entered the kitchen.

Pleakley was reading his newspaper. The front page had a big headline about something to do with the weather. My English wasn't that great so I couldn't make out anything else other than the words 'damage' and 'drain.' Jumba was over by the sink, reaching up into the cupboard. He was the only one dressed for the day. David was sitting beside Pleakley, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Nani also looked tired. I guess the weather had kept everybody up most of the night.

When Jumba turned and saw me, he eyed me for a moment or so and then went back to what he was doing. Lilo and I sat at the table. I was too small to reach so I had to use the stool every time we ate. Now that Lilo was a bit taller, she could sit comfortably at the table and no longer needed an extra pillow to boost her up.

Nani handed us our plates.

"Mmm... kabchathi!" I commented.

She sat down and watched me closely as I started to eat, as did Jumba. It was nice they cared, but honestly, they were so paranoid. Lilo had started talking about something that was an obvious hint towards Wasp Mummies. I could see Nani roll her eyes, knowing what she was hinting at.

"No Lilo. You're too young."

"But Nani!"

"No buts!"

She pouted. I felt bad for her and ate my breakfast.

Some of the egg I was eating missed my mouth and fell across my chest before slopping to the floor. I could feel it stick in my fur. Nani just sighed as she saw this and everybody else stared.

"Eh... oops?"

She just shook her head at me.

Lilo was still pouting. By some bizarre coincidence, Jumba did the same thing a few moments later entirely missing his mouth. He looked down at his egg, now also on the floor.

"I really don't think I'll ever be able to understand how that's possible," was all Nani commented about it, before going to fetch the dustpan.

"Wasp Mummies?" Lilo called out after her as she left.

* * *

After breakfast was finished, Jumba and I remained in the kitchen. Lilo had gone off to bug Nani some more and David had gone to shower. Pleakley had gone in to watch some television program about wigs. I had my head rested against the table, staring out into the living area at the TV.

"626?"

I looked up "Ih?"

"I have started working on microchip. Won't be ready for a few more days, however."

I tilted my head. "Chip to go into Stitch?"

He nodded. "Yes, as I mentioned yesterday. Will be benefit to both 626 and to Jumba."

"Okeytaka."

Jumba gave a nod. He walked over and picked up my ear to stroke it a few times before rubbing the bridge of my nose and then turned to leave. He'd started doing this to me more frequently and I figured it was his way of showing affection towards me, rather than hugs or kisses like what Nani and Lilo did.

Lilo came into me shortly after Jumba left. I looked at her as she sat down beside me and also put her head across the table so that she was facing me directly.

"Well I'm out of ideas."

"Wasp Mummies?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Lo-lo head Nani!"

I grinned. "Lilo too young."

"Well, I wish I wasn't!"

"Vidla tam direx?"

She sighed. "I guess I'll have to, unless I can find a way to get in there. You're old enough to take me, right?"

"Eh..." I was actually only two years and two months old. I don't think Lilo was aware of this. She often thought I was much older due to my level of intelligence.

"Naga."

She looked surprised. "You're not an adult like Nani?"

I shook my head and laughed. "Course not. Stitch two."

"But..." she looked confused. "You seem... so much older. Like really smart."

I tapped my head. "Tinko tinko."

She just stared. I elaborated.

"Stitch fast mind. Think like super-computer. Mind mature, but still young."

She thought about this for a moment, before seeming to understand what I meant. She sighed. "Guess I'll never see get to see Wasp Mummies," she said as she reached out and ran her finger along my claws. "Hey... so then, why did you offer to take me to see it?"

I shrugged. "'Cuz Naanee wouldn't. Not 'cuz age."

"Oh. Thanks Stitch."

She smiled at me. I smiled back at her.

"We have costume practice today," she reminded me. I nodded.

"Stitch no be bad," I promised her, offering my pinky. "Be good."

She looked at me sadly for a moment, before looping her pinky around mine in promise. "I know you won't be bad Stitch. You don't need to promise me."

"Make Lilo feel better," I told her. "If Stitch... ever bad. Is not him."

"Hm?" she looked slightly confused.

I pointed to my chest. "Meega. Never hurt Lilo or be bad on purpose," I spoke slowly to get my words across as clear as I could. "If Stitch... bad. Is not Stitch. Like glitch. Naga daka zoocata."

She just looked at me sadly.

"I know Stitch," she said distantly. "I know that now..."

I nodded, tightly locking our fingers in promise. "Never hurt o'hana. But never ever hurt Lilo. Stitch promise. Stitch love you."

She gazed at me for a moment but then nodded, pulling our fingers apart. Eventually she sighed. "What if Mertle laughs at me? Or starts taunting me again about what you did and it makes me so mad that I pound her? It hurts me Stitch. When she says those things about you."

I reached across and took her hand into my paw. "Lilo ignore. Not worth."

She teared up. "You mean too much to me. I can't stand anybody talking bad about you. I just can't."

I squeezed her hand. "Naga keeta shoota ti bak."

"I know it doesn't matter what they think," she agreed. "But I care."

I smiled at her. "No worry. We do together!"

She gazed at me again, but then eventually nodded. "Yeah."

She put her head across the table again. I could tell she was nervous. I wasn't the type to get nervous (I'd been designed to attack first, ask questions later) but I was still worried about her. I put my paw on her shoulder, before flipping my ears up and looking towards the window. The rain had started up again.

"Choota."

"I hope the weather is better for the competition," Lilo agreed to my disdain.

I hoped so too because I was really looking forward to performing with her. And this time, there would be no glitch to ruin it or turn her against me.


End file.
